Nothing Left to Burn Read Online Free PDF Page B

how to tell him. He used to be tight with Matt Logan. Ty Golowski probably wouldn’t care much.
    “Okay, listen. Chief okayed a new junior today.”
    “That’s great!” Ty pumped his fist and flashed a mouth full of metal. He was our youngest and newest cadet and had been looking forward to hassling the next new guy for months now.
    “No, not really. It’s Reece Logan.”
    Gage’s face went red, and he huffed out a breath through his nose—always a sign of temper for him. “Are you freakin’ kidding me?”
    I shook my head. “Wish I was. He showed up this afternoon and spent some time upstairs. Chief Duffy called me in, said to show him around, get him set up. He’s in the conference room now.”
    Gage swiped a hand under his nose. “Does he know?” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to where Lieutenant John Logan was bullshitting with a few of the guys on Truck 3.
    I jerked. Crap! John wasn’t supposed to be here on a Wednesday. And judging by the grin on his face, I was betting on no. “I’ll tell him.”
    I adored John. He and Matt were like the station’s own comedy duo, finishing each other’s sentences and thinking on the same wavelength. Whenever I imagined my own dad, I pictured someone like John.
    “No, wait,” Gage said. “We should meet the kid first.” He turned and shoved through the door and into the conference room. Reece was still in the chair where I’d left him. When he heard the squeaks of shoes on linoleum, he jumped to his feet and rubbed his hands down his legs, eyes darting from me to Gage to Ty and back again.
    “Hey,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m Reece. Reece Logan.”
    “Yeah, I know. Um, wow. I’m Ty. Tyler Golowski.”
    “Hi, Ty.” Reece smiled, and another chill crawled down my back. My eyes kept saying, “It’s Matt,” while my brain kept saying, “No way.”
    Noise out in the corridor made Reece take a step backward. The rest of the squad filed in. Max Tobay, doing his best lady-killer strut, Kevin Sheppard—well, Kevin just kind of bounced everywhere he went—and then Bear Acosta.
    Before anybody could say a word, the squeak of wheels from the utility cart signaled this week’s class was about to start. My jaw dropped when I saw the toast-brown hair, the wide shoulders, the smile just like his son’s. Crap, crap, shit . This was going to get ugly.
    Really ugly.
    John Logan shoved into the room with a cart loaded up with gear. I took my seat and waited for the inevitable shit storm to rain down on us.
    “Okay, gang, I’m Lieutenant John Logan, and I’m taking over for Neil. Do what I tell you, when I tell you, and we won’t have a problem. As soon as I get all this gear unloaded, I want you all to gather around and just wait. Got that?”
    Tyler’s eyes darted anxiously from Logan to Logan, but John hadn’t noticed Reece…yet. I rubbed my palms down my pants and swallowed hard, sneaking glances at Reece. He was chalk white and statue still. The tension in the room crackled, and abruptly, Reece stood up and cleared his throat.
    Ty slid his chair a little farther away.
    John finally registered the tension in the room, straightened up, and turned around. His eyes popped wide and then hardened the second he saw Reece. A muscle tightened in his jaw.
    Reece’s knees twitched, but he stood his ground and nodded once. “Dad.”
    That was all it took. One word. One syllable.
    John’s eyes—same dark eyes as Reece—shot down, took in his T-shirt, and flashed hotly. In three strides, he was in Reece’s face, finger thrust toward the door. “Outside. Now.”
    And for the first time since I got sucked up into the foster care system, I thought maybe I was lucky.
    ***
    When I was in first grade, a girl in my class got a special surprise one day. Her dad came home from Iraq and showed up while we were doing reading circle, still wearing his military uniform. Erin cried and hugged him, and everybody clapped. I wondered if my dad would come home like